Lake Shoji

This print presents Hasui's primary composition of Lake Shoji (Shojiko) in Yamanashi Prefecture, the smallest of the Fuji Five Lakes and a classic subject within the meisho-e tradition of depicting famous places associated with Mount Fuji. Hasui's view of Shojiko likely captures the lake in calm conditions that allow the mountain's profile to mirror in the water, a compositional device he employed throughout his Fuji-area lake prints. The lake's relatively undisturbed natural environment — with dense forests reaching the shoreline and no urban infrastructure — provided Hasui with a landscape closer in character to traditional landscape ideals than the more developed shores of Kawaguchiko or Yamanakako. Pine and mixed deciduous trees along the near shore would be rendered with careful carving of individual branch structures in the keyblock, a hallmark of Hasui's woodblock draftsmanship. The print was published through the Watanabe Woodblock Print Shop as part of the sustained shin-hanga engagement with Japanese landscape subjects throughout the 1920s and 1930s.